Awakening
by BloodAndDiamonds
Summary: When thrust into the chaotic and unfamiliar world of Politics, pride and difference of opinion can only be the least of Lina Mahariel's problems when it comes to Tamlen. Throw in the Darkspawn, and it's a fate-induced recipe for disaster. ON TEMP HIATUS
1. Introductions

**A/N: **Hey! Here I am with the sequel to Meddling, although I sincerely _hope _that this one does not last 36 chapters! To my old readers who have found this through Meddling, welcome back and I hope you like this sequel! To any new ones, Hello there! You might not understand half the stuff that is going on in this if you haven't read meddling, although you can try but you have to _really _pick through it to understand!

* * *

"Do you think there is anyone here _under _the age of seventy?" Alistair's muffled whisper cut through the silence that had descended upon him and his royal guard, every one of them feeling awkward under the gazes of many, many elves around him. Most were likely wondering why the King was entering their lands, and all of them were cautious and suspicious.

Unfortunately for Alistair, the elf leading them through the old remains of Ostagar heard him, and the young black-haired elf stopped, whipping around to face him so quickly it startled him. He almost fell backwards in his haste to take a step back when the young elf took a step closer to him.

"As it is, your _majesty_, there are only a dozen Dalish here under the age of seventy, and they are the nurses who have left their clan to help the older Dalish here. Other than the nurses, there are Dalish Hunters at the entrance to Ostagar, myself and my companion whom you saw at the gates. A keepers first also left her clan to help rule over those of us living here at Ostagar." As she spoke, she started to walk again, and Alistair noted that despite her words she was leading them back _out _of Ostagar through the southern gates where there were no guards posted. Alistair took a gulp, nodding before realising what she had said.

"Hang on, where are all the other Dalish then? The living and breathing ones?" At his words the young elf gave a bitter laugh, turning her head slightly to face him as she pulled open the large gate.

"The first Dalish homeland was destroyed by humans, as was our second. We fear a repeat of our oldest lesson learned, and thus when we were given the land, we had many decisions to make. Eventually we Dalish decided that the elderly and the weak that could no longer travel every day would be moved to the land given to us near Ostagar. Not all the elderly came here though; only those who could barely walk, and the same applies to the weak. A dozen younger Dalish also came here to look after them." The elf gave him a curt nod before letting them pass through the gate, and any answer that Alistair may have had was stopped at the sight.

Even though it had only been a few months since the defeat of the Archdemon and the lands given to the Dalish, there were already many brick and wooden houses, all one level but most looking quite quaint and comfortable. They had not inhabited the actual ruins of Ostagar, and had instead built their houses in the wilds just outside.

The young black-haired elf led them through the pathways towards one isolated home with an aravel outside of it, and Alistair noted that despite no stores, inns or apparent religious building, it seemed very similar to a city living quarter without walls. The elf led them around the aravel and in through a door to the building, a decidedly edgy look on her face as she gave an unsettled glance to the _very _high ceiling and leading them to a middle-aged brunette elf who was sat at a desk writing a letter.

"Keeper, this man claims that he is the King of Ferelden. I could not force him to wait outside, for he insisted that since he gave us these lands, he should have a right to speak to you… He wishes to speak with two elves, and does not believe me when I say that they are not here." The dark-haired younger elf gave a respectful bow to the woman before turning on her heel to leave, presumably back to the gates at the entrance to Ostagar.

The keeper signed off her letter, not looking up to Alistair until she had sealed it and then standing up, giving him a bow and moving around her desk, looking him in the eyes and leaning against the desk in something that resembled boredom.

"Who are you looking for, your majesty?" Her voice was kind at first, but bitter when she spoke the word 'majesty.' Alistair refrained from furrowing his eyebrows in wonder, and gave a light cough before speaking.

"Ah, yes. I'm looking for Lina and Tamlen Mahariel… I had thought that they would be here after the land was given to the Dalish." Alistair spoke; his chin held high just like Anora had taught him and his hands clasped behind his back. The keeper stood up straight, eyes blank as she thought for a moment before she answered.

"The Dalish you seek are perfectly healthy, so there was no reason for them to be here. They are with their clan somewhere in the Brecillian forest."

"The Brecillian forest? How am I supposed to find them in there?" Alistair retorted, all manner of social graces gone and his arms crossed over his chest, the beginnings of a pout forming on his face. The keeper had moved to her desk, pulling another piece of parchment from a drawer and starting to write, before pausing to answer Alistair's question.

"That's not my problem." Alistair looked at her rather helplessly, unable to believe that she seemed unwilling to help him. She didn't look up when she spoke, and for a moment or two the only sound in the air was the scratching of her quill as it flew across the parchment.

"I'm your king; you are bound to help me." It was his last resort, blackmail he never _ever _wanted to have to resort to, and yet this stubborn woman who wasn't even a noble had managed to force it from him. She scoffed, however and looked up, pushing her long fringe from her face.

"You are the king of the humans, and my flat eared brethren. Do not think that simply because my kin in the cities will bend to your every will, that I will also. The Dalish have no rulers. The humans made sure of _that_." Her voice was bitter, and she ran her tongue along her teeth as Alistair narrowed his eyebrows.

"I'm not responsible for what happened to your people!" He gritted his teeth, wincing when he did so and immediately stopping the action. The elf cocked her head to the side, and Alistair expected a sarcastic or annoyed response.

"Oh? It is my impression that the authority of the crown supersedes that of the Chantry. During the fall of the dales, the _king _did not stop the exalted march on my people. Whether you are a relative of that king or simply the newest person to take the throne, you are still a King. I will not place my trust in a human, and most certainly not an arrogant one with power." She gave him a sweet smile, and then beckoned to the door. The guards behind Alistair looked uncertain, not too sure what to do and wondering if anyone was allowed to directly insult the king like that. Alistair spluttered.

"I am _not _arrogant!"

"You just tried to get information out of me with the excuse that you are my king and I am bound to help you. That, to me, spells arrogant." She made another motion to the door, and Alistair nodded to his guards to leave. He followed, pausing at the large door and turning to face the elf at the desk.

"So you won't help me find them?" The elf gave a sigh, giving Alistair hope that she was going to give in. She set her quill down, looking over at him from her desk and her dark eyes showing him she was annoyed.

"No. Find them yourself, but don't expect to get much luck in your search."

* * *

Tamlen frowned, eyes skimming over the parchment held tightly in his hands. The writing was eloquent and curly, much better than the untidy scrawl that Alistair had normally showed during the Blight, and Tamlen had a sneaky feeling that Alistair had either taken writing lessons or Anora had wrote the letter for him.

The carriage he was travelling in went speedily over a bump in the road; shifting Tamlen in his seat and making him give a small grunt of pain as he hit the side of the jet black interior of the carriage. He rubbed at his head, giving a pout before reading back over the letter. It was an immediate order to go to Denerim, issued three weeks ago by the King and arriving at his Dalish camp only two days prior. Although the letter was wrote for Lina, she wasn't in the clan and so he had been given it instead, and he had raised his eyebrows to find that the both of them were sent for.

They'd waited a day for Lina to return, finally setting off in the early hours of the morning before, leaving a note to Marethari and a separate carriage to bring Lina to Denerim when she returned to the clan.

Tamlen gave a groan when the carriage swerved, his body moving with it and banging on the other wall. Fisting his hands, he gave a solid 'thump' to the window where he could see the driver, catching his apologetic look before rolling his eyes and rubbing his temples, letter still in hand. They had to be getting closer to Denerim.

Tamlen reread the letter once more, not noticing the passing houses outside or the people congregating near the carriage as it moved through the city of Denerim, many of them wondering who could possibly be inside one of the black carriages if the King and Queen were in the palace.

Only when he heard shouts of young children playing in the streets did he look up, and Tamlen gave a very relieved sigh to see the palace gates in sight. He shifted, tucking the letter into his cloak and placed his hand on the indoor handle of the carriage door, pushing it open once they had gotten through the gates and practically diving out of it at the first chance he got. As the driver gave a shout of alarm, Tamlen made a mental note to _never _get back in one, and made his way towards the doors to the palace on his own.

The moment he pushed open the door to the study, however, he felt immediately small and weak once he noticed Alistair sat at his desk in the middle of the room having a heated discussion with Anora, both of them having many royal guards stood behind them looking bored. Tamlen had no doubt this sort of thing happened every day. Anora froze once he entered, straightening her stance and giving Alistair a pointed cough.

"I will take my leave, _husband_. We shall continue this discussion later." Anora gave him a false smile, turning to Tamlen and giving him a nod before leaving, a majority of the guards following her and the remaining ones separating from their place behind Alistair to places near the window and the door. Alistair was sitting at his desk, red-faced and angry looking, running his hands through his hair before giving Tamlen an exasperated smile.

"Did you happen to hear any of that? Oh, and do sit down, if you want to." Alistair gave a nervous cough, pulling at the collar of his tunic and then looking down to the papers on his desk.

"No. And I'll stand." Tamlen raised his eyebrow at Alistair, crossing his arms over his chest leaning against the wall closest to the door.

"Right… Well. You Dalish aren't very sociable, are you?" At Alistair's words Tamlen narrowed his eyebrows, eyes fixed on Alistair with a curious glint in them.

"Excuse me?" Alistair seemed to shrink in his seat at Tamlen's sharp response, before he straightened up again and folded his arms over on the desk.

"Little over a month ago I travelled to the Ostagar ruins, where the oldest of your clans are staying. The leader –or Keeper, as you call her – point blank refused to help me. I assume it took a long time for my messenger to find your camp too?"

"Yes. I nearly filled him with arrows on sight. He was lurking in the shadows of the forest until a stray arrow from my bow missed his head and he accidentally revealed himself." At his words Alistair gave a very sarcastic sigh.

"Great… I'll need to refer him to a specialist now, no doubt." Alistair gave him a light laugh, stopping at the far from amused look on Tamlen's face. "You know, you're rather miserable when Lina's not around, aren't you?"

At seeing the elf's eyes darken at his words, Alistair cringed, looking to the left of Tamlen and half hoping the blonde elf to magically appear to stop any form of scene that Tamlen might cause. The guards in the room looked uncomfortable after Alistair's comment, but Tamlen kept calm and simply stared at Alistair.

"Your Majesty, did you summon us here for a reason?" Tamlen raised his brows a little, annoyed and waiting for Alistair to hurry up and get to the point.

"Ah, yes. You see, I need Lina here to tell you both properly, and she's not here. Where is she?"

"Orzammar. More specifically, the deep roads." At first Alistair's eyes widened, mind flashing only one reason why she would travel there, and that would be for an early calling. However, at the bluntness of which Tamlen said the word, and with Alistair knowing full well Tamlen wouldn't let her go for her calling on her own, he assumed she must have had a good reason for visiting Orzammar.

"Why is she in the deep-" Alistair was cut off by the sound of a tray of plates dropping and a servant girl screaming. He stood up abruptly, seeing the alarm on his guards face but calming by the palace squires giving loud laughs from somewhere outside his study door.

It was soon followed by a familiar voice shouting at something to calm down and the joyous barks of an active Mabari filling the halls of the palace.


	2. Scarred

**A/N**: Hey! Here's the next chapter! :)

* * *

"Can I have him back?" Lina's voice was stern, eyebrows narrowed as she stared at the Kennel master sitting down in a chair near the doors to the kennels. The man looked uneasy, and to make a point Lina purposely fingered the large Dar'Missan in its sheath on her side.

"I- I'm not sure, my lady-"

"Listen to me, and listen well. I allowed you to take him for three months. It has been six. If I don't get him back _right _now, I'll gut you. I'm late for a meeting with the king, and I don't care what you think. _Give me back my dog_." Lina hissed through her teeth, thoroughly enjoying this and desperately wanting to see Duster once more. The kennel master gulped, eyes darting to the other door in the room that was an exit before looking up at Lina.

"Miss Mahariel, you need to understand something. Your dog, he's the prized pet of the Hero of Ferelden, and we needed him to sire several litters to replace the lost hounds in the blight. It worked… but…" He trailed off, not looking Lina up in the eyes, and Lina had a horrible sinking feeling that Duster had perhaps died in some freak accident. Her eyebrows narrowed.

"It's _Mrs _to you, and come on, out with it. I don't see the problem with him siring several litters; it's what I gave him to you for." Lina spoke clearly, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips as she watched the kennel master tremble in his seat. His eyes flickered to her face for a moment, lingering on her cheeks until Lina's glare stopped him, and he stared back at the floor.

"We allowed him to sire litters all across Ferelden before we brought him back here to sire more with the female Mabari's… He was kept under a lock and key after you warned us how troublesome he was… But he got out." Lina's stomach dropped at the kennel master's words.

"You _lost _my _dog_?" Lina slammed her hands down onto the desk, eyebrows narrowed and an anger flaring up inside her. The kennel master shook his head.

"No. He got _out _and found his way through the tunnels to the _palace_… Your dog found the Royal Mabari of King Alistair…" He stopped, checking Lina's face for any form of reaction. Lina looked slightly scared.

"Oh no… I don't think the outcome can be good when two male Mabari's come across each other…" Lina trailed off, feeling a little ill at the thought of her dog fighting with another Mabari that was possibly stronger than him. The kennel master simply paled, looking like he was about to be severely ill.

"Wrong again. The Royal Mabari is _female_."

"Oh dear. Is the Royal Mabari expecting pups?" Lina felt a flood of relief wash over her, her stiffened body relaxing once she realised Duster was actually safe. The Kennel master nodded at her.

"Yes, she is. King Alistair is not aware of it yet; we've yet to tell him. As for your dog; look for the Royal Mabari and you'll find him." The kennel master kept his eyes on Lina's sword as she gave a nod of understanding, fighting back many giggles at the simple thought that her dog had mated with Alistair's young Mabari.

"Where is the royal Mabari?" Lina asked, turning to hide the grin on her face at her amusement and hand on the doorknob to the room they were in.

"Well, usually she would be by King Alistair's side. But your dog has had a bad effect on her… They are likely either raiding the Larder or annoying the Queen… Your dog particularly enjoys the latter activity, if I may say so."

* * *

Tamlen looked to the door as the happy barking got louder, eyes furrowed until the door was pushed open with a clawing sound and two Mabari's wandered in. The first was a thin and lithe looking female Mabari, a twisted pure-bitch braid around her neck and heading directly for Alistair. The second was a male Mabari, much bigger than the female and walking in backwards, facing something outside the door with a happy look in his face. The Mabari stopped once he'd entered the room, head cocking to the side and sniffing the air before he turned to look at Tamlen.

"Oh great, it's _you_." Tamlen muttered to the dog with a half-smile and a sarcastic tone, arms uncrossing as he looked at the Mabari. Duster gave a low growl before barking at him curiously.

"Oh don't worry; I've been taking care of her. In fact, if you'll notice, she's actually _healthier _than when you last saw her. Unless she got hurt in Orzammar." Tamlen muttered to Duster, and the Mabari gave him a strange growl before looking out the door of which he had entered. His head cocked to the side again before turning to look back at Tamlen and giving him yet another growl.

"I insisted I go with her, but she wouldn't have it. The letter was for her, and her alone, and she refused to let me go with her. She's not supposed to be back until next week. So, Lina, you can come out from hiding on the other side of the door." Alistair looked at the dog and Tamlen in confusion, glad that the awkward air had disappeared but confused as to why Tamlen seemed to think that Lina was in the palace. He ruffled his own Mabari's ears, the female dog sitting down vigilantly at his feet and eyes fixed on Duster. There was a pause in the air before the sound of rustling fabric and metal against stone before Lina appeared in the doorway, eyes narrowed.

"Ruin my fun, Tamlen, then why don't you- where is he?" She stepped into the room, startling a little when she saw movement in the corner of her eye and noticed Tamlen leaning against the wall.

"I'm right here- by the creators, what happened to your face?" As he slowly asked the question to her, Alistair moved from where he was behind his desk to move closer to the two, eyes on Lina. From the angle she was standing at, all Alistair could see was half her tanned face, bright blonde hair slightly longer than it usually was and midnight eye supporting dark circles. He saw her give a weary smile to Tamlen, and heard Duster give a whine that was eerily sarcastic. For her part, Lina didn't frown or gasp, but simply gave a small laugh.

"Oh, this. Had a little run in with a harvester – had a nasty habit of pulling flesh from people and using it as power. I was lucky it didn't take my entire body. I was worse than this a few days ago, however, it's healing quickly. But don't worry, my eyesight will be back soon enough and the wound on my face will decline to a barely visible thin white scar in a few days. I'll look exactly as I used to, albeit with a small white line across my cheek." Lina gave a grin, fingers moving up to touch the cheek that Alistair couldn't see and stopping when Tamlen moved his hand to her face, thumb rubbing gently across her wound. _Then _she turned to look at Alistair.

He had to fight awfully hard to hold back a gasp of surprise. Her right eye was white, eerily cloudy and misty-looking with bright red bloodshot veins snaking around the whites of her eyes and stopping where Alistair assumed the colour of her eye would be. Only two faint dark circles in the middle of her eyeballs were visible. A long jagged cut ran from the corner of her eye down the curve of her cheekbone and down to the left of the tip of her nose, running over the vines of her facial tattoo. It looked painful and around the cut were various dots of blood, likely from where she hadn't been able to wash it off in case she opened the wound again. Alistair didn't even _want _to imagine how bad it must have been when she had initially gotten the wound.

Lina, feeling uncomfortable by the stares of both Alistair and Tamlen, gave a haughty huff, bending down to stroke Duster's muzzle and giving him a kiss on his face, ruffling the soft fur around his ears. Duster gave a small happy bark, licking at her unwounded cheek with a glint in his eyes.

"I know, I know. I'll talk to you until I'm healed, since you don't stare half as badly." She muttered loudly in a cooing voice, anger directed at Tamlen and Alistair as they both gave a cough. Alistair tore his eyes away from Lina with an apology, and Tamlen looked her in the eyes, trying not to think on how only one of them was currently able to look back.

"I- I'm sorry, I just… I- I'm sorry, Lina." Tamlen apologised to her, not seeing the smirk on her face as she stood up to face Alistair. She looked at him from the corner of her eye, shaking her head.

"Oh it's okay. Next time you bust your face open and crush your cheekbones from falling into the Halla trough and Marethari refuses to heal it for you, I'll stare. I won't be the nice wife like I was the last time it happened and ignore it; I'll stare until you want to hide your face under a sheet." Lina gave him a sickly sweet smile before turning to Alistair. He coughed, catching Tamlen's attention too before speaking.

"As you know, I summoned you here for a reason. You are the two only other Grey Warden's in Ferelden at this moment in time. We need a Warden-Commander. I obviously cannot fulfil the post. The citizens of Ferelden are proud of you, Lina, and if they knew we gave the post to a foreign Warden whilst you were available for the post, we'd never live it down. You've both received orders from the High Commander of the Grey Warden's of Thedas to fulfil the posts of Warden-Commander and Second in command at Vigil's keep, in Amaranthine." Alistair watched as Tamlen gave a groan of disbelief and Lina gave a sigh, a flicker of denial passing through her eye and disappearing a few moments later. She shook her head.

"Please tell me that, since I am a woman, I am the second-in-command. I'm tired of leading; I don't wish to have to do it _again _for the rest of my _life_." Lina hissed through her teeth, rubbing at her temples. Alistair squirmed.

"I'm afraid that the High Commander wants the Hero of Ferelden as Warden-Commander. However you only need to occupy the post until the darkspawn threat in Amaranthine dissipates. After that you are free to abdicate the position to any other Grey Warden you deem fit enough to occupy the title." Alistair felt a small tinge of fear when Lina's eyes lit up, and she looked at Alistair curiously.

"If a Grey Warden is, say, with child at the time, does she have to do it?" Tamlen's head whipped around so quickly at her words that the cracking of his neck was heard, his eyebrows meeting his hairline at the words of the bright blonde elf. Alistair widened his eyes.

"I-I… up until the fourth month of pregnancy, yes. You're not with child, are you?" At the blonde's small sad shaking of the head, Tamlen visibly relaxed, all traces of fear gone from his face. When she looked up to give a wicked grin at Alistair, he squirmed once more.

"Sadly no… I'm not Anora." She glanced to Tamlen, rolling her eyes at the bewilderment still visible on his face. "You, we're going to be very _busy _the next few weeks. I don't fancy the idea of being a Warden-Commander." She gave him a sneaky grin before turning to Alistair.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked, a little uneasy to see the wicked grin on her face. He had absolutely _no idea _how she knew about Anora, and that made him even more uneasy.

"When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow."

* * *

"Stop staring…"

"I am _not _staring. I am simply focusing on you so that I do not throw up due to this horrible carriage ride."

"You're staring. You're trying to decipher whether or not you'll be stuck with a wife with a nasty scar on her face for the rest of your life."

"_What_? Lina, don't be _ridiculous_!" Tamlen huffed towards her, watching as she sat with arms crossed over her chest loosely, one leg crossed over the other and looking out of the window to the carriage. She'd placed a medical flesh-coloured patch over her eye to stop the curious glances that were cast her way by some of the servants in the Palace, and after leaving she had kept it on, knowing she'd get some stares from those at Vigil's keep too. Some colour had returned to her eye, the midnight blue showing very lightly beneath the cloudy mist that seemed to have covered her eye, although the colour was not prominent enough to be seen from more than a few centimetres away from her face.

The cut on her cheek had healed slightly since the day before, however it still looked very nasty on her face and unfortunately couldn't be covered up. It hurt her to smile, although one of the mages in the Palace and Marethari had told her that it was normal for her skin to feel tight as it healed around the damaged area. It made her shudder to remember the Harvester's head detaching from the body and flying straight towards her, long-dead hands clawing at her face to make the wound before it started to take the flesh from its main body to restore its health. Had the runic golem not been there, she knew she wouldn't have survived. But Tamlen didn't need to know that.

"I'm not being ridiculous. I can _sense _your stare. I've told you numerous times, practically _all _traces of this will be gone in two weeks." Lina retorted smarmily, sensing an awkward tension in the air and tearing her eye away from looking out the window to look at the dark haired human sitting next to her. The woman gave a cough, short hair falling into her face as she regarded the two elves.

"Um… Just ignore me, my lady." The woman muttered, hands wrapped tightly around a shield and a helmet on her lap. Lina glanced at them, looking at the woman and giving the nicest smile she could.

"You're not just a guide, are you? What's your name?" Lina asked her politely, hand moving up to rub at her eye before realising that the patch was there. The woman looked up at her, seeming a little tense.

"My name is Mhairi, my lady. Forgive me; I'd assumed proper introductions would be made at the Keep. I am one of the Grey Warden recruits." She seemed to relax a little once she spoke, and Lina nodded whilst Tamlen gave an uninterested 'hmm.'

"I see. You seem to be pretty quiet, you know. I may be Dalish, but I don't bite." Lina gave her a joking smile, watching as Mhairi gave a small nod and relaxed against her seat.

"I-I… It's not that, my Lady, it's just that you're… Well, you're-"

"The hero of Ferelden? Please, call me Lina. Unless you are referring to the way that me and my husband are bickering like young children? I apologise if we've made you uncomfortable." She heard Tamlen give a scoff opposite her, and greatly resisted the urge to kick him. Instead, Duster gave him a growl, the Mabari squished onto the small floor space as the carriage moved along the bumpy road and feeling just as ill as Tamlen himself.

"Are you always like this?" Mhairi asked cautiously, not wishing to overstep the line of questions she could ask. Lina shook her head.

"Not really. But we're not the perfect couple either. You'll find out soon enough, once you've known us for a long enough time." Lina gave her another smile, this time hiding a scared flicker inside her at the thought that perhaps Mhairi would not survive the joining.

"Good to know…" Mhairi muttered quietly with a smile, but Lina's attention was elsewhere. Her eyesight may have been impaired, but she was sure that the rising smoke and flickering fires in the evening sky were certainly _really_ there in the distance. It looked like perhaps it was a castle of some sorts, although Lina wasn't sure due to her not-so-great knowledge of human architecture. The smoke seemed to be quite high in the air, thick and black and trailing down the road they were travelling down. Tamlen and Lina both gave a twitch, the air _reeking _of the darkspawn.

"Hmm… I think a village or bannorn has been attacked recently by the darkspawn." She gave a motion out the window, Tamlen and Mhairi moving to get a quick look. Tamlen furrowed his eyebrows, confused for a moment before Mhairi gave a very loud gasp and moved to unsheathe the sword on her back and looking absolutely terrified.

"Th-that's Vigils keep!"


	3. Anders

**A/N**: Hey! Here's the next chapter! :) I've to apologise for the long delay in publishing ridiculously short chapters - I've not a lot of time on my hands since I've gone back for my final year of school, so I've hardly had any time to get to a computer and write D:

* * *

Lina felt the heat of the fireball encasing the room before she saw it, skidding along the small corridor in an eager attempt to stop. Her blood soaked soles of her shoes refused to allow her to stop, and her entire body swayed forward with a stumble and almost sent her tumbling had Tamlen's arm not shot out last moment to latch onto her wrist to keep her upright. She immediately took a step backwards to balance herself, narrowly missing a flicker of flame that had come from the fireball erupting in the middle of the room. Mhairi was stood behind them both, eyes narrowed and squinting as she looked through the flames.

Unrecognisable mounds of silver and –to Lina confusion- purple were littering the floor, one silver streak flashing through the air in the fiery room and landing with a clang. A human-looking shape seemed to be bouncing through the room, shaking their hands wildly and blowing at them. The fire started to dissipate, Lina's eye falling to the silver mounds whilst Tamlen and Mhairi both looked curiously at the last remaining living thing.

To her surprise, several bodies of Darkspawn were scattered around the floor, badly burnt and all dead, along with the bodies of a couple of Templar's. Her eye moved up to the other person in the room, a small look of relief flittering through it when she realised it was only a very guilty looking mage trying to put out the fire at his fingertips.

"What happened?" The mage looked at her when she spoke, taking in the state of her face before glancing back at the Templar's.

"Er… I didn't do it." He gave a half-hearted shrug, bringing doubts to Lina's mind about whether or not he really was responsible.

"Oh really? So they were _all _slaughtered by the darkspawn? How horrible." Lina crossed her arms over her chest, her tone sarcastic as she looked at the mage. The mage scoffed.

"Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not broken up about them _dying _to be perfectly honest. Biff there gave the funniest little gurgle as he went down." The mage gave them a smile, shrugging again and watching as Tamlen moved to lean down next to the dead Templars and start to pull off the armour. Duster moved around the room, sniffing the air for anything he thought could be useful.

"These men were templars?" He asked, pulling off the heavy metal armour and then checking the pockets on the underclothes for any poultices. The mage gave a shrug at him and looked to Lina and Mhairi.

"So they kept saying. But come to think of it, there's really _no way to know for sure_, is there?" He gave an emphasis on his words, eyebrow raised cockily. Lina gave a short laugh, noticing his hair pulled up in a hairstyle similar to the way that Duncan's was when he had first recruited her. This mage even seemed to have the same earring.

"Like a sign from above… A very _convenient_ sign, but a sign nonetheless." Lina looked over towards Tamlen, who was pulling paper from the pocket of one templar and unfolding it. The mage looked back at her.

"Yes, a sign from the maker! But let's move to introductions. You may call me Anders, my dear lady. Mage of the circle and, sadly, wanted apostate." He placed a hand to his chest, giving a small, almost sarcastic bow. Lina uncrossed her arms.

"Apostate? I assume these men were here for you?"

"Yes, sadly. We came here for a little stop before heading back to the circle, but then the darkspawn attacked." Anders shrugged again, looking behind Lina to Mhairi. "And I see you weren't here when we arrived; I'm sure I would have remembered a _lovely _lady such as yourself." Anders gave her a wink, grinning when Mhairi took a small step back in disgust and rolled her eyes.

"Well, you seem to be _pretty _capable in a fight… Fancy coming along with us?" Lina heard Tamlen's almost inaudible groan of annoyance, casting him a grin from across the room as he pocketed a necklace, scroll of paper and a warmth balm. Lina couldn't fight the thought of irony at the warmth balm considering Anders had wiped out the templar who had it on his person.

"If I must…" Anders gave Lina a wink, oblivious to Tamlen's second groan of annoyance, and he took his staff from his back. "Let's get going then." He followed Mhairi and Duster out the door, not noticing Lina lagging back to look up at an annoyed Tamlen.

"Come on, Lethallin… And wipe that scowl off your face; it's not nice on your features."

And at her small pat on his cheek before she followed Anders from the room, Tamlen did as she asked.

* * *

Lina took a step back as Anders readied a fireball, a wedged broken lock on a wonky door before the five of them after Lina's unsuccessful attempt at picking the lock. Kicking it in hadn't worked either, due to the wonkiness of the wood that made Lina need to tilt her head to the side to view the door as straight. Tamlen was stood next to her; both he and Mhairi adjusting their armoured boots after various straps had broken on them at their attempts to break the door down. Lina hadn't helped them with that task; she'd been busy mourning the loss of her best lockpick.

The shocking sound of wood splintering and charring pulled them all from their thoughts, the smouldering mess that was once the door lying in a burning heap of ashes on the floor and the doorway free of any form of the door. Anders gave a wink, waving them through and then following as loud grunts could be heard from the other side of the doorway. The five of them looked up towards the sound, three of them surprised and two delighted at the blur of red and black in the midst of the darkspawn.

"Oghren!" Lina's voice was high pitched, piercing through the grunts and moans of the darkspawn and reaching the dwarf's ears. Duster gave a loud happy bark, running towards the steps to the upper level and pouncing on a darkspawn that Oghren had just lodged his axe into. The redheaded dwarf turned, giving Lina an oddly cheerful smile and a wave before turning to fight some more darkspawn. Anders looked bewildered at the misplaced gesture, but Lina simply shook her head fondly and unsheathed her blades, heading towards one of the darkspawn.

Both blades sunk into the creatures back before it had a chance to realise she was there, Lina kicking it off the blade as a lightning blast missed her by inches and finished off the Hurlock. With the newly-turned six of them fighting against the darkspawn, it was only a few minutes before Tamlen was pulling his blade from the last living Hurlock whilst Oghren brought his axe down to behead it for good measure.

There was a moment of silence, the only sound being their panting as they struggled to get their breaths back, the four of them with blades scraping them against the walls and tables to wipe the darkspawn blood. Tamlen used his shield to scrape it off, the blood flying from the end of his sword and hitting Duster in the face. The Mabari growled, shaking his head wildly in an attempt to get it off his face. Anders cast a group healing spell on them all, the tingly feeling of their flesh knitting back together taking over and making Lina shudder. Oghren moved to the banister of the level he was on, looking over it towards them all.

"Ha! There you are! I was waiting for you to show up; I said to those no good Grey Wardens when they were fighting the darkspawn to 'just wait until the Commander gets here, and them there darkspawn will all be spitting teeth out of their arses!" Oghren gave her a toothy grin, something strange to Lina considering his beard and moustache normally covered his mouth and for this instance, his moustache had gone completely askew over his face.

"It's good to see you, Oghren!" Lina moved closer, standing near the level and looking up at him with a smile of her own. For the first time since entering the Vigil, she felt a vague sense of happiness rush over her; if she'd arrived here and found him dead, she wouldn't know what she'd have done.

"I find that hard to believe." Anders muttered behind her.

"Oh goodness no, _not you_." Tamlen mumbled darkly, rubbing at his eyes and holding his head in his hands. Mhairi looked towards him in wonder.

"Are you not fond of him?"

"I've a bad past or sorts with him… No, not _that _sort of past!" Tamlen spoke out quickly at seeing the surprised look on Mhairi's face.

"I… I see." Mhairi took a small step to the side, eyebrow raised at him. Tamlen shook his head.

"I bloody _hate _that dwarf… Everything to do with him has to be sexual or it's not amusing or worth his time in the _slightest_." Mhairi gave a half-snort at Tamlen's grumble, looking over to Lina who was still talking to Oghren.

"-So I came here to be a bonafide Grey Warden!" Oghren slapped the wooden banister, making it shake from the force. Lina gave a wry grin.

"If you certainly feel that you want to become a Grey Warden, then I can't stop you. It's dangerous though." Oghren merely gave a shrug, placing his axe into its strap on his back before looking back at Lina.

"Well then, let's go kick some Darkspawn arse. Only polite thing to do." He gave her a drunken smile, and as Lina moved closer she knew immediately that he was drunk but ignored it in favour of picking the lock on the door behind him. She meddled with the tumblers, sensing Mhairi and Tamlen move closer to her as she picked the lock and knowing instinctively that Oghren had lagged back to poke fun at Anders. Lina successfully unlocked the door and pushed it open just as Oghren looked up at Anders with a worrisome look in his eyes, looking the mage up and down.

"Have I ever told you about the time when… No, of course not, I've just met you… One time, we were in the Brecillian forest –nasty forest it is, mind you – and keep in mind that the commander wasn't even _married _yet when I stumbled upon this-"

"Oghren…" Lina warned, cutting across the dwarf at seeing Tamlen's wary face and Anders' eager one. Oghren ignored her as they walked through the door into the hallway. Duster ran through first, running ahead to see if there was anything he could warn them about. Oghren glanced back at Anders and continued to talk.

"The commander had _just _recovered from a werewolf bite, so she was injured up pretty bad. So little old Oghren here took a walk through to a clearing, and this nug humper here-" He beckoned to Tamlen, "had the commander up against one tree, both her legs wrapped around-"

"_Oghren!_" Lina held back a laugh at Tamlen's steadily turning red face, noticing the dangerous flicker behind his grey/blue eyes and turning to face Oghren. "You _really _don't want to continue that." Oghren gave a grumble at her words, looking up to Anders. Anders gave a moan.

"Oh come on! You can't leave it at that, you know. I need to be told the juicy gossip-" He froze, eyes ahead at the injured body of a blonde solider, lying limply in the hallway and clutching at his side.

"Oh dear…" Tamlen muttered, watching as Mhairi ran towards the injured man with her hands over her mouth, clearly upset about the injured state the man was in.

"Rowland!" The man sputtered and opened his eyes at the mention of his name, Lina holding her arm out to stop the rest of them moving towards him as Mhairi knelt beside him and shook him lightly.

"M-Mhairi?" At his weak tone, Mhairi turned to look up at Lina.

"Commander, Rowland is a recruit, like me. We were both recruited in Denerim at the same time, we have to help him!" Her voice was pleading, and Lina looked over towards Anders. The mage was looking at the bloody wounds on Rowland's body. The black bloody ones in particular.

"I can give him a shot of whiskey for the pain, but not much else – the taint will stop pretty much all healing." Anders gave a slightly sad shrug, and Tamlen looked over at Lina.

"Will he survive to become a Warden?" He asked her, but Lina gave a slow shaking of her head.

"No. And before you ask, he isn't tainted like we were. Ours was more of an affliction, caught by simply being near that mirror. He's caught it by a wound; it is unlikely he will survive anything other than the process of becoming a ghoul." Lina glanced to Mhairi, seeing a small flicker of hope burn out in the woman's eyes as she turned to face Rowland again. The man was coughing, looking up to Lina.

"Commander?"

"I'm here Rowland, I'm sorry I didn't arrive here sooner." Lina moved closer, her midnight blue eyes connecting with his nearly lifeless ones.

"They came from everywhere, commander. Beneath the floors, through the walls and from all directions… And with them, there's a darkspawn who talks!" He coughed up more blood, eyes squeezing shut tightly as his body rocked with pain.

"A talking darkspawn? He's gone delirious…" Anders spoke quietly, seeing Oghren nod in agreement and Tamlen give a concerned frown.

"The taint doesn't turn you delirious until you've been tainted for over a couple of weeks… There's no way he's gone insane already." Tamlen muttered to the two of them. Oghren gave a scoff, and Anders furrowed his brows.

"And just how would you know, Mr. Smarty-pants? Hmm?" Anders would have continued had Lina not turned around and hissed at them to be quiet, and Tamlen settled on leaning against a wall next to the Mabari whilst glaring at Anders.

"Mhairi, there's something in my blood! It _hurts_!" Rowland gave a moan of pain, shuddering once more and coughing up more blood before his eyes lolled backwards into his head, his last breath jagged and uneven. Mhairi held back a sob, placing her hand over his eyes and closing his eyelids.

"I will avenge you, Rowland, I swear it." Mhairi stood up and away from his body, staying quiet and keeping her eyes fixed distantly on the wall. Lina gave a sigh, beckoning Duster to her and slowly making her way to the door that lead to the roof. Duster slipped out first, Lina and the others following with Lina disappearing into the shadows momentarily.

The rest of them continued walking, Anders readying his staff and Tamlen sensing a stronger tingle through his veins that signalled a very strong darkspawn. None of them could see or hear anything unless they moved around the corner of the roof, and Tamlen wasn't sure whereabouts on the roof the strong darkspawn was. He only knew that his veins were calling for him to make a move or a noise to allow the other darkspawn to know where he was. He needed to do the opposite.

Anders peeked around the corner, eyes widening at the sight before him and stepping out off of the wall at the same time Lina reappeared from the shadows to warn them to stay quiet, and Anders' next words drew attention to them all.

"Look at that, it _is _talking!"


	4. Alistair

**A/N**: Hey! Here's the next chapter ~ :) Sorry for the delay, honestly! I'll try to be a lot quicker with updates from now on!

* * *

Lina's hiss of pain was heard by the six of them as The Withered's hand struck out to slash across her face. One moment, they were whittling away at his health; the next, after the distraction from Lina's hiss, they were all knocked to the ground by a strong war cry reverberating through the air and making them all lose their footing. The darkspawn had known which one to hit to cause the distraction, and the simple thought worried her.

The Withered swung his sword around, bringing it down towards the fallen body of Tamlen and then stumbling backwards when it clanged with the bricks of the roof at Tamlen's very quick roll out of the way. The rest of them quickly moved, Anders stumbling as Oghren stepped on the hem of his robe. Anders let loose a loud curse, pulling at his robe as Oghren swung his huge battle axe towards the Withered and almost lopped off his arm.

Tamlen looked over to Lina, seeing her stand up slowly with one hand clutched to her face and something that looked like her own skin fall off from her face. He narrowed his eyebrows in alarm, moving closer to her and blocking a hit from a Hurlock as Lina struggled to pick her Dar'Missan from the floor. Tamlen disarmed the Hurlock, running it through with his blade before glancing back at Lina. The hand clutched to her face was moved as he looked at it, Tamlen wincing at the second angry and bleeding gash that crossed over the first scab on her face, creating a curved 'X' shape on her face. The patch on her eye was gone; he realised that that was what had fallen to the floor as she had stood up.

"You okay?" He asked her quickly, handing her his sword and then ducking out the way as the Withered swung his sword around again. He picked up Lina's own blade as he bent down away from the sword and was slightly surprised at the lightness of the weapon before he charged back into the fray, joining Oghren in the weapon swinging towards the Withered. Mhairi was knocked unconscious after the war cry, her head connecting with the floor and leaving her laying there in the rain. Lina gave a shout to Anders once she noticed, the mage picking right up on it and sending healing spells Mhairi's way to prevent the rain from drawing more blood out than necessary.

Tamlen quickly exchanged swords with Lina, thankful to have his own back in his hand again as he and Oghren continued to strike at the Withered. Oghren's axe soon found itself caught up in the side of the armour of the Withered, the blade sunk in too deep to pull out easily, and Oghren was left axe-less. It left only Duster and Tamlen able to fight in close combat, with Lina having switched to a bow to stop herself from cutting up her face any more than necessary. Duster gave a loud bark, going straight for the hackles of the Withered as Tamlen pushed his longsword into the wound just under Oghren's battleaxe, twisting it and then pulling it round to cut through skin and bone. Blood gushed from the wound, black and sticky and tainted and falling over Duster's face and Tamlen's boots.

Duster kept his hold on the Withered's leg, tearing the armoured boot off from the darkspawn creature and then clamping his sharp teeth onto the leg. Skin was torn off, Duster letting go before the blood moved into his mouth and then going for the other leg. Tamlen pulled his sword out, watching as the battleaxe also fell from the Withered with it, before stabbing his face. The Withered let out a moan of pain as Tamlen's sword was cutting his face open, all sound ceasing completely when Tamlen brought his sword into the Withered's stomach and then slit the creature's throat.

Once the Withered hit the floor, dead, not even the sounds of their panting and straggled breaths could be heard over the thunder and pouring rain.

* * *

"Stand still!"

"_I can't!_ You tell me to keep walking, and then you tell me to stop. I can't greet those soldiers coming up the road if you keep stopping me!" Lina hissed through her teeth, eyes fixed on Anders as they descended the stairs down to the first floor of Vigil's keep. The mage had been trying to fix both the wounds on her face _and _her eye. He'd only managed to close up the most recent wound, and was now attempting to pull the stitches out from the gash on Lina's cheek. She kept slapping his hand away every time he stopped casting a healing spell to touch it.

"Well, you need to stand still now. Otherwise you'll be greeting those soldiers and their general with a big long metal string sticking out of your cheek." At his words, Lina automatically flew her hand up to her cheek; giving a groan when she felt the flexible metal stitches that were now no longer keeping the wound closed but was hanging out from the middle of her cheek.

"Fix it… _now_." Lina warned, eyebrows narrowed as they walked through the door at the bottom of the staircase. Anders gave a little tut.

"Now, now commander, I don't _have _to be doing this for you, you know." Lina turned to look at him, faintly hearing Tamlen behind her give a small sigh at Anders' words.

"You didn't _have _to pull the stitches from my face in the first place, either. I've got an animal here who won't hesitate to tear you to shreds and a man who will do so if I ask nicely. Either _fix _it, or become closer friends with Duster's jowls." Duster looked up at his mistress at the mention of his name, and gave a strange sound from his throat that sounded eerily like a throaty laugh.

"Ooh, someone's touchy. Are we a little paranoid about this nasty cut?" Anders gave a laugh as Lina kept her glare fixed on him, hand hesitantly resting on the doors as Anders worked his magic. Lina felt the skin on her face burn, flinching when Anders placed his hand on her cheek before turning her head. He looked to Tamlen.

"What do you think?"

"I don't see anything…" Tamlen gave a frown, not knowing what Anders was talking about. Anders rubbed at his temples.

"Exactly. It's her injured cheek. How stupid are you?" Tamlen furrowed his brows, looking at the pale white scar but not realising anything until it finally clicked.

"The wound has closed!"

"_Finally_!" Anders gave him a mock childish grin, clapping his hands together before rolling his eyes. Tamlen moved closer to Lina, seeing the disbelief in her own eyes as she searched his face for the truth. Tamlen held her head in his hand, finger tracing over her cheek. It was smooth, the only reminder that there was a horrible cut there being the jagged, thin white scar that ran from the corner of her eye to the corner of her cheek in a curve along her cheekbone.

At seeing Tamlen's look of surprise and not feeling pain at the touch on her cheek, Lina's hand flew to her face. Varel turned to look at them in confusion, unsure as to why she wasn't opening the door until he saw her face. Only her eye was still injured, the colour a milky white over the pupil and iris.

"Wow… Thank you!" Lina gave a grin, stopping short at Varel's unimpressed look and pushing the door open with all her strength. They ducked under the ancient portcullis. Slowly, they made their way across the courtyard, Tamlen holding Varel up for support after the man slipped in the wet mud. Reaching the gates, a few gasps of surprise were emitted at seeing the royal colours of the royal flag coming up the road, a man in golden armour at the front and surrounded by dozens of soldiers.

"Couldn't have arrived a little earlier, could they?" Tamlen grumbled under his breath, pulling at Varel's arm to get a better grip on the older human.

"Yes, but if they did, that would have spoiled the fun." Anders retorted, stopping behind Lina and looking quite startled to see her giving a small bow. His eyes widened, however, when his eyes fell on the approaching King. Mhairi fell to her knees next to Lina.

"King Alistair!" At her words, Lina stood up, cringing mentally from having to bow the way she did but smiling up at Alistair. He looked around.

"It seems I've arrived a little bit late. Shame, I rather miss the whole darkspawn killing thing." Alistair looked around at the keep, eyebrows narrowed at the fires still flaring in the background.

"Funny; I don't. We weren't expecting this here. All the Orlesian Warden's are either dead or… missing." Lina grimaced as she spoke, watching Alistair's face for a reaction. He cringed.

"As in, taken by the darkspawn? Do they even _do _that?" Lina gave a nod at his question, and the disdain at the revelation showed on Alistair's face. He shook his head, looking to Varel. Varel seemed to know it was his cue to talk.

"Your Majesty; we have suffered many losses here today, mainly those of the Orlesian Warden's. I have confidence that with The Commander and our new Arlessa, we can restore Vigil's keep from the fires and keep the darkspawn back rather quickly. I will aid the new Arlessa in the ruling of Amaranthine, if she wishes it." Varel shifted, still leaning on Tamlen for support. Lina looked at Alistair, giving a frown and looking behind him for a sign of a human noblewoman.

"Who's the new Arlessa?" She raised her eyebrow, eyes on Alistair and a pit of dread in her stomach. Alistair gave a sheepish grin.

"Well… you see, when there is a Commander of the Grey, the land they operate in generally tends to become _their _land. The Arlessa of Amaranthine is you." Alistair took an almost invisible step back at the look on Lina's face. She chewed her lip, eyes latched onto Alistair's as the information sunk in.

"I take it that _that _didn't go down very well with the nobles?" Lina crossed her arms over her chest, head cocked to the side. Alistair shook his head.

"I… er… No, not at first. When they realised that you were the Hero of Ferelden and not just a common Elven Grey Warden, they warmed up to it." Alistair's Mabari stood up at sensing her master's distress, standing next to him with her gaze on Lina. Tamlen shook his head at Alistair's words.

"Oh, wrong choice of words there, my friend. _Bad idea_." Tamlen whispered under his breath.

"You are very lucky you're the King, Alistair. Very lucky. Why am I the Arlessa? Can't I refuse?"

"Not whilst you are the Commander, no. You can abdicate either position _after _the darkspawn threat is gone. Otherwise, it's the High Commander's orders that you stay here until the threat is gone." Alistair put a hand on his Mabari's head, calming her down. The young Mabari then laid down on the floor next to him, head resting against the kneecap of his armour.

"Very well… Tamlen has to help me too, yes?" Lina asked, turning to look at Tamlen. The other elf shook his head.

"Oh no, I'm staying out of this. I'm a very racist elf; politics will only make things worse." At his words, Varel gave a cough to get his attention.

"It's not that simple. You're her second-in-command _and _her husband. By marriage you are the Arl." Tamlen groaned loudly when Varel finished talking.

"What a joy. Beg pardon while I leap for joy." Tamlen gave another groan before moving away slowly towards the keep, and as he did the other followed, leaving only Alistair and Lina to talk with only Anders stood next to her.

"King Alistair! Your Majesty beware, this man is a dangerous criminal!" A templar moved to the front of the keep, hand pointing towards Anders in accusation.

"Criminal? Oh great, _here we go again_." Anders groaned loudly, stepping backwards.

"I will see you _hang-"_

"You're an apostate, yes Anders? Alistair, I conscript this mage into the Grey Warden's." Alistair frowned, surprised by Lina's words and then nodding.

"I believe the Grey Warden's retain the right of Conscription, yes? I will allow it. I hope you know what you are doing." Alistair gave a nod, ignoring the Templar's retort to his words and ignoring Anders, looking at an equally unimpressed Lina.

"This is going to be a long dozen of months, isn't it?" She asked with a sigh, watching the Templar walk off.

"Don't you_ dare _complain. I've got the heavily pregnant, _smart _animal whinging and whining at me all day long." Alistair moaned, hands held to his temples. Lina looked to the Mabari.

"She looks fine to me. I wouldn't have guessed she was heavily pregnant."

"I was referring to Anora, actually. Although come to think of it, don't think I don't know about your damned Mabari reproducing with mine. He just wanders in like a drunkard with a waitress, and then just walks back out again, and _I'm _the one left with the pregnant animal. _Two_, if you count the Queen." Alistair shook his head, and for the first time in a while Lina saw the visible signs of stress on his face. The circles and bags under his eyes were shocking and unnatural on his face. Lina gave a sympathetic smile.

"Good luck with parenthood. I'm sure it's a journey you'll both enjoy. When your Mabari gives birth, could you send me a female pup?" At Alistair nod, Lina smiled before bowing again, staying where she was as Alistair and the troops departed. Two or three of them left them and wandered towards the battlements of the keep, and Lina assumed they were staying to protect it whilst they were low on troops.

Once the troops were out of view, Lina moved over to a sergeant stood outside the now-raised portcullis of the keep, Oghren stood next to her and looking to be trying to flirt with her. She looked rather disgusted as Lina moved towards her and Anders went into the keep.

"Commander! Blimey, a while back they caught a thief in the keep. Took five wardens to subdue him and then move him into a cell. Half-joking, they said he'd make a good warden."  
"Where is he?"

"In the dungeon. Commander." The woman gave a short nod of her head, going back to rifling papers through her hands. Oghren gave a half-sigh, looking to Lina.

"I'll check out this nug-humper with you."

"Hurry then." Lina gave him a fond smile, leading the way to the dungeons.

"So _this _is where that Arl Howe used to live. By the stone, they had a pretty grand place, didn't they?" Oghren pushed the door open, giving a grunt. Lina nodded to him.

"Yes, this is where they lived. After Alistair stripped their family of their titles, the remaining Howe fled. She's in Amaranthine, or so I heard on the way here. Not as grand as the Denerim Palace he took over, though, is it? Or even that Cousland Estate; apparently, he murdered all but the two children of that Castle in jealousy. One fled to Bannorn, where she was kept hidden by a noble, and another was involved in the war but survived Ostagar by living with the Chasind until he healed." Her voice was likely carrying all the way down to the dungeon, and Lina knew that the prisoner and Jailor could likely hear her as she spoke. She closed the door behind them, pushing the bar in to keep it locked in case the prisoner tried to escape.

"Bastard. Didn't you cut him up and scatter him around the Royal Palace?" Lina gave a grimace at Oghren's question.

"Yes. He got me riled up, racist _bastard_. I imagine they're still picking him up from the corners of the dungeon." Lina gave a short laugh, feeling Oghren give her a friendly slap on the thigh before they moved into the central dungeon. The Jailor was sat at a desk, paused at writing and looking like he was trying to ignore their conversation. In the cell, the prisoner was sat against the wall, arms crossed and legs crossed loosely, glaring up at Lina through his messy hair. He looked like he was trying not to throw up, and that particular look sparked recognition in Lina, although she knew she could have never seen the prisoner before. Oghren spoke, however, before she could voice her thoughts.

"What's up with this nug-humper's face then, huh?"


	5. Velanna

**A/N:** Hey! Here's the next chapter! Oh my lord, I'm so sorry for the slow update! I was away in Gran Canaria! Throw a birthday in, English Mock exams and college open evenings, I've been unable to write at all! I'm sorry! I've wrote the final chapter to this, however, on a small notepad during lessons in School, so I've a general direction to be heading in to help me write! (Although on the plus, I'm now sixteen. Quite surprised I lived that long!) :)

Ooh, a side note; I'll be posting up another story to go in the DAO section of this site; it'll likely be called A twist of Fate, and I really need to get the idea out there! Try to find it through my profile if you're interested; it contains a LOT of Tamlen!

* * *

"So… _You're _the famous Commander of the Grey; the Hero of Ferelden… Aren't you supposed to be ten feet tall with lightning bolts shooting out of your eyes?" The prisoner stood up slowly, making his way towards the bars of his cell and glaring at Lina. She shook her head.

"My hands, actually, my _hands. _You need to get your facts right before you accuse, young sir." Lina crossed her arms over her chest. "Mind you, the darkspawn probably think so."

"Yes. Ferelden knows you as their hero, their saviour. The one who defeated the blight in under a year, the shortest time ever recorded. They know you as the one who rushed to Denerim to save the lives of hundreds as the city. Me? I know you as the person who _killed _my _father_. According to your friend, the one who mutilated him and scattered him around a dungeon." The prisoner locked eyes with her after motioning to Oghren, teeth gritted together tightly as Lina gave a short laugh.

"Oh! _That's _where I recognised you! Yikes, Rendon Howe seemed to have passed on the face of a _bastard _onto his son, didn't he? I never heard of you before; the guard forgot to tell me about there being a third Howe. Or are you a lovechild? Makes more sense; Howe struck me as the type to rape innocent young servant girls. I bet your mother was an elf too. He _loved _abusing the Denerim Elves once he became their Arl. Treat them like they were _dogs_." Lina's false cheery tone changed quickly to a bitter, disgusted tone, matching the look on the prisoner's face as his stony glare was locked onto her.

"My mother was my father's _wife_. I'm no love-"

"Really? That's a surprise, really. I'm guessing that you're not just a thief, then. You've nothing here to steal, apart from a few hidden belonging's I refuse to let you get your hands on if you are not under my command. So you either came for the memories, or you came to kill someone. Likely me, or the Arl –oh don't wince, you're father's not Arl anymore and you should accept that- or Varel?" Lina raised her eyebrow and cocked her head to the side, waiting for his answer.

"I came here to kill you. I thought to… to lay a trap for you, so I could kill you. However once I got inside, I realised I just wanted to reclaim some of my old things that I could salvage." Lina gave a small nod, taking a small step back.

"I see. What's your name?"

"Nathaniel Howe." He gritted his teeth together, locked in a staring contest with Lina; the bright blonde elf refusing to look away.

"Nathaniel Howe. I've not heard of you, but you know that. But you, you've heard of me. _That _much is obvious. But what to do with you? Killing you would be _too easy_. Letting you go would certainly be fun. Or should we leave it all to chance? Give you the magic potion and _one two three_, you're dead or alive?" Lina's voice became unusually high at the last sentence, her false cheery smile almost convincing if it wasn't for the look of disdain in her eyes. Oghren glanced up at her with a look of utter confusion on his face at her jumping mood, both of them ignoring the sound of the door opening behind them. It could only be someone who had a key, and so Lina kept her glaring contest with Nathaniel.

Only when Varel's hand descended onto Lina's shoulder did both of them tear their gazes away. Lina glanced up at Varel, Nathaniel looked to the floor.

"Varel… Did you know this was Nathaniel Howe?" Varel had a visible look of surprise on his face as he looked at Nathaniel.

"A Howe? That explains how he got past the walls unnoticed… Commander, a Howe will only cause trouble." Varel gave a notion to Nathaniel, as if he was entire proof of it.

"I'm not so sure…" Lina gritted her teeth, looking at him and feeling an odd sort of pity towards him. Fumbling with the ties of her sword sheath, she kept her eyes on him before quickly glancing towards the door.

"Do what you wish with him. You know him better than I do." With that said, she left the dungeon, Oghren behind her.

Varel looked at Nathaniel, unable to believe that he'd attempted to get inside the keep. He could order execution, although technically he was only guilty for thievery. Varel studied him, well aware that he'd been working at Vigil's Keep since this boy –no, man- was in swaddling clothes. The jailor beside him shifted uncomfortably, the jingle of his keys ripping through the silence that had descended upon them all. Varel gave a sigh, knowing he'd likely regret what he was about to do.

"Let him go."

* * *

"Hand me a mirror."

"No. I swear, you are so vain, you should have been born a woman."

"How do you know that I wasn't born 'Andersina?'" Anders asked groggily, a grin on his face as Lina's eyebrows shot up her forehead.

"The disturbing thing is that you sound deadly serious. Here, take the mirror." Lina handed him a mirror, watching as Anders held it over him to look at his face as he lay in the bed.

"No tattoo on my forehead. I thought you would have inked my forehead." Anders rubbed at his forehead before groaning; sitting up in the bed he was lying on and then fixing his eyes on Lina.

"Believe me, I was tempted. You would have looked pretty with some bright golden stars on your forehead. Or maybe an Elven curse? It would be interesting to see who would have realised what it would have said." Lina unfolded her arms, giving Anders a grin before throwing him a wet towel and a medium sized box. Anders threw the towel to one side –more specifically, to a still sleeping Oghren- and opened the box.

"Ooh, a present? For me? Dear Lady, I – It's armour." His face fell as he looked at the rather thin armour that was folded up inside the box. Lina gave him a small smile.

"Last year, I almost lost my Spirit Healer days after we left the Circle Tower. You are not only a Spirit Healer, but a Grey Warden now. There are only four of us alive right now that I'm certain of. If you die, I lose a mage and a Grey Warden." Lina pulled the armour from the box, unsheathing her sword as she did so. Lightly holding the armour at the end of her fingertips, Lina stabbed hard at the thin armour. Anders winced, looking surprised when Lina didn't so much as flinch and the sword bounced off the armour.

"Ah… Mithril. Under or over the robes?"

"Under. That way, if you do get killed, I can salvage it from your body without the Darkspawn knowing it's there." Lina's eyes spelled something wicked, and Anders gave a small sigh.

"Charming, my dear lady. Just _charming_."

* * *

"_Stop!_" Lina's voice had hit its highest pitch, the word screaming through her lungs and voice box as she yelled towards Anders and Tamlen. Oghren stood next to her, watching as her words travelled up the hill towards the two men, both of them ignoring the man who ran past them frantically after he'd explained the danger. Anders stopped first, looking behind him to Lina with a confused look on his face. Tamlen slowed down, spinning on the spot to look down to Lina. She beckoned them both to come back to her, and a mere fraction of a second later tree roots exploded up from the ground in the spots where they had both been stood before they moved. Tamlen was knocked to the ground, narrowly missing a vine that had swung towards him. Anders ran quickly back towards Lina, sending a healing spell Tamlen's way as the male elf pulled himself up and away from the roots.

There was a loud screeching noise, similar to one of frustration, before the vines and roots shot back into the ground and reappeared on a higher part of ground, this time with a blonde Dalish elf standing before them. Vaguely, Lina recognised her.

"_You two_. I recall you both from the last gathering of the clans. Your keeper is Marethari, is she not?" The elf gave them a very stony look. Lina had an image of her fifteen year old self and Tamlen having accidentally spilt Vallaslin liquid on the back of a young Keeper's First, staining the older girl's robes as she spoke with Merrill. Lina glanced sideways to Tamlen and knew he was having the same image.

"Yes, she is. Aneth ara, sister." Lina spoke evenly, watching as the elf relaxed a touch and stared down at them, arms crossed.

"I was with my keeper Ilshae when she spoke to Marethari. Ilshae had suggested I take a walk with Merrill to become friendlier with her so as to make it easier for when we became keepers. That's when I met _you_. I am Velanna. I do not believe we exchanged names when we last met." Velanna fixed them with a look Lina couldn't decipher, and Tamlen turned his head to the floor. It was him who had tripped Lina up when she was carrying the Vallaslin inks at the gathering.

"No, I do not believe we did, sister. I am Lina, and this is Tamlen."

"Ah yes. You're the daughter of the keeper before Marethari. Be careful in these parts; there are darkspawn and the Shem settlements do not look kindly upon us Dalish." Velanna kept her eyes locked with Lina's, ignoring Tamlen, Anders and Oghren.

"Why was that man afraid of you?" Lina beckoned to the path behind her where the human had run in a frantic haze, desperate to get out.

"You see these caravans? They belong to the forest now. He foolishly tried to take that which was not his." She gave a half-hearted shrug, narrowing her eyes in question as to why Lina wanted to know.

"Have you destroyed these caravans?" Velanna gave a nod.

"After all the Shemlen did to me… to our people… This is _justice!_" At her words, Tamlen looked up, eyes narrowed.

"Are you talking about what happened in the Dales and at Arlathan?" He sounded incredulous, eyebrows narrowed. He may have hated the Shem, but even he thought that if that was why she was destroying caravans, it was a step too far. Velanna uncrossed her arms, throwing them in the air.

"No, fool! They stole my sister, and likely sold her to merchants! I will not rest until I have her back!" She threw a glare at Tamlen, before fixing her narrowed eyes back on Lina. Lina herself resisted the urge to stamp on Tamlen's foot for aggravating Velanna.

"Listen, Velanna, you need to-"

"I don't need to do anything that concerns you. On the other hand, you need to go. I have no quarrel with you, and I would _hate _for that to change." There was an undertone of sarcasm in her voice, and Lina bit back a hiss of annoyance when, as quickly as she had came, Velanna disappeared.

Lina knew that the wolves that appeared seconds later were _not _a coincidence. She turned to look at Tamlen, Oghren and Anders.

"Give chase!" Lina wasn't sure which one of them had shouted it, but she gave a small nod and quickly summoned a wolf to help them before running in the direction that Velanna had disappeared.

* * *

Wincing, Tamlen spat out a mouthful of darkspawn blood, withdrawing his sword from the Hurlock's body and wiping it off on the floor. Blood was dripping from his face. He'd stabbed the darkspawn twice, once in the throat and once in its stomach. The throat wound had widened, sending pumping blood towards his face. He felt a healing spell wash over him, despite him not having any injuries, and realised Anders must have thought that he was injured. He wiped the blood off, kicking the Hurlock in the side before throwing his sword towards the last remaining Darkspawn. It hit, impaling it and then pinning it to a tree. Oghren tipped to the floor as his axe swung through midair, causing Anders to have to help him up before they all moved towards each other.

"Do you think she found the commander _before _she found us?" Anders asked them both with a worried glint in his eyes. Oghren gave a shrug; Tamlen ignored him, listening to the sounds in the surrounding area. The wolf beside him gave a howl of despair, limping heavily next to them.

Eventually, Tamlen picked up the sound of a sword striking wood, accompanied with the occasional angry muffled moan, and headed in the direction they were coming from. Anders, Oghren and the wolf followed him, quickly hearing the sound themselves. He led them up a hill, going straight past the broken human swords and shields, leading them to a very, _very _small Dalish camp. A large tent was set up in the middle, smaller tents all around with large bloodstains covering them.

"Something doesn't seem right here, Tamlen. Don't you Dalish usually travel in clans? Surely never as small as this?" Oghren asked Tamlen. He nodded, clearly hearing the sounds of a fight. They moved around the tent that was set up in the middle, looking around it and narrowly avoiding a fireball that skimmed Anders' head. His yelp distracted the spell caster, giving the other participant a chance to dart forward and whack the flat of her sword against the mage's wrist. The staff flew out of her hands, hitting one of the tents next to her. The mage soon found herself pushed against a wall, Lina's sword against her neck as they both panted for breath.

"Calmed down yet?" Lina asked, breathless as she pulled Velanna off the wall and sheathed her sword. Velanna's shoulders slumped, and she coughed heavily whilst rubbing at her wrist and neck. Lina bent to pick up her staff, holding it next to her and raising her eyebrow at Velanna.

"How can we Dalish ever hope to reclaim our lost history and former glory when we slaughter each other like animals?" The question was rhetorical, but Lina merely held one hand up in defence, but bit back a retort on how Velanna had attacked her first. She handed her back her staff.

"What _happened_?" Tamlen asked quietly, knowing that Velanna would hear but directing his question to Lina. Lina gave him a glance.

"I followed her, and she started to shout. I yelled at her to calm down, and she attacked. Got me with a nasty fireball, too." It was then that Tamlen noticed that the bottom of the leather on her armour had been badly singed, and there was a nasty looking burn on her leg.

"Are you going to kill me?" Velanna asked from where she was stood, a little way away from Lina, but close enough to hear the conversation. Lina turned to face her, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No, I'm not going to kill you." Velanna looked up from the ground, locking eyes with Lina and still panting from their small fight.

"Then will you let me go? For the sake of our people and what we share?" Lina shook her head, and Velanna frowned. Tamlen looked at Lina, slightly confused.

"No. I'm not letting you go. I wish to talk." Velanna scoffed at Lina's words, straightening up and holding her head high.

"Then _talk_." Lina grinded her back teeth, eyes on Velanna.

"All that happened here; it's not what you think. The darkspawn were playing the humans against the elves."

"What? That's impossible; the darkspawn are mindless." Velanna balled her fists, looking away from Lina to the tents.

"The darkspawn killed the humans, and then placed their weapons here."

"I- I had wondered why they would discard the weapons… But the darkspawn planted them? That would mean that the darkspawn killed my people and took my sister!" Velanna cast her eyes back to Lina, eyebrows narrowed with a frown on her face.

"See this elven amulet? I found it on a darkspawn; there's no reason they would have it unless they were going to place it on a human body." Lina showed her a green trinket, and Velanna's arm whipped out to take it from her hand.

"This is Seranni's! She would never willingly part with it… Perhaps there is a truth to what you say. But why would the darkspawn do this?" Velanna cradled the necklace in her hands, looking at Lina carefully. For a moment, from where he was stood, Tamlen swore he saw a flicker of fear pass through her eyes.

"I'm not sure. But we intend to find out." Lina spoke quietly, and Velanna took a step forward.

"Listen… after what just happened, I know you've no reason to trust me, but let me come with you." At her words, Tamlen started to subtly shake his head. Lina caught it from the corner of her eye, but ignored him.

"Very well… But don't attack me again!" Lina warned, eyebrows narrowed and midnight eyes locked with Velanna's. Oghren gave an annoyed groan.

"Great, another twitchy one."

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Anders asked quietly so that Velanna wouldn't be able to hear. Lina gracefully and subtly stepped on his foot with the heel of her armoured boot, making him give a hiss of pain. Seeing that, Tamlen kept his mouth shut.

"We Dalish must band together… I apologise for my earlier actions… Do you know where the darkspawn may be hiding?" She asked, seeming stronger again and eager to get going. Tamlen would have respected her if he hadn't known that she was only willing to help to find her sister.

"Probably underground."

"I know of some mines to the north. The tunnels lead deep underground… Follow me." Velanna –at a fast pace- moved quickly away from them, leaving Lina to shrug at the others and then follow. Velanna lead them to a large door that looked very out of place in the forest. It seemed to be an entrance to a cave. Chains were wrapped around the handles.

Lina, using her sword, cut through the chains fairly quickly, pulling them from around the handle and discarding them to the side. Taking a lockpick, she picked at the tumblers and pulled the springs, satisfied at the echoing click as the door opened. Velanna slinked through the gap. Lina turned to look at the other three members of her part, ignoring the wolf completely.

"If you see something, and you don't know what it's for, _don't touch it_."


End file.
